Ronald Wright refers to the internal combustion engine as a “progress trap” — an invention that seems brilliant at the time but comes with unforeseen consequences. “The internal combustion engine was going to solve all the problems of horses and the limitations of railways,” says the Canadian author, whose book A Short History of Progress forms the basis of the new documentary Surviving Progress. “But,” he adds, “the engine has created a world of these enormous sprawling cities, and we’ve created settlement patterns where the density is so low, it’s impossible to ... Read More
Documentary Frames Graphic Art’s Political Ferment
March 2, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Back in the day, being a socially committed graphic artist was a particularly dangerous undertaking. Honoré Daumier was imprisoned for his work, and died impoverished. Käthe Kollwitz and Otto Dix had their work declared “degenerate” by the Nazis. George Grosz was arrested for allegedly insulting the German army. And so incendiary were Francisco Goya’s masterpieces, Disasters of War, the aquatint prints were not published until 35 years after his death. “In the past, the documentation of these artists had a terrific effect, which was why back then it was more dangerous to do ... Read More
Study: More Black Juveniles Sentenced to Life Without Parole
February 29, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Three weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of sentencing juveniles convicted of homicide to life without parole, the first-ever study of youngsters serving these punishments has been released. The Lives of Juvenile Lifers, a survey of more than 1,500 prisoners who were sentenced prison terms of life without parole (known as JLWOP) when they were between the ages 13 to 17 was compiled by The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group for sentencing reform that opposes JLWOP. “Although it does not excuse their crimes,” the report sums up, “most people ... Read More
From Modern Albania, A Feudal Tragedy
February 23, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Give director Joshua Marston credit — he doesn’t take on easy film projects. Marston’s debut feature, 2004’s Maria Full of Grace, was about a Colombian drug mule and her desperate attempts to find her way in the U.S. It humanized a demonized underclass and featured a critically acclaimed performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno. Now, in The Forgiveness of Blood, Marston has gone to Albania to make a film about blood feuds and what adherence to a 15th-century set of legal codes known as the kanun has meant for a country on the road to modernization. “I was fascinated by the ... Read More
A Masterful Look at Anti-Apartheid
January 10, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Shortly after my mother died in 1983, I sat down with her financial adviser to go over her estate and to decide what to do with the money she had left me. I discovered mom had investments in South Africa, then a pariah state for its racist policy of apartheid. When I told the adviser that I did not want to invest in that country, her response was, “What’s wrong with South Africa?” My answer was to find another investment adviser and divest immediately — which made me one of the millions of people influenced by the international anti-apartheid movement, an effort that is exhaustively ... Read More